There is no place in British law for Christian beliefs, despite this country’s long history of religious observance and the traditions of the established Church, two High Court judges said . . . Lord Justice Munby and Mr Justice Beatson made the remarks when ruling on the case of a Christian couple who were told that they could not be foster carers because of their view that homosexuality is wrong . . .

The judges underlined that, in the case of fostering arrangements at least, the right of homosexuals to equality “should take precedence” over the right of Christians to manifest their beliefs and moral values. In a ruling with potentially wide-ranging implications, the judges said Britain was a “largely secular”, multi-cultural country in which the laws of the realm “do not include Christianity” . . .

The ruling in the case of Owen and Eunice Johns . . . is the latest in a series of judgments in which Christians have been defeated in the courts for breaching equality laws by manifesting their beliefs on homosexuality. In their ruling, the judges complained that it was not yet “well understood” that British society was largely secular and that the law has no place for Christianity. “Although historically this country is part of the Christian West, and although it has an established church which is Christian, there have been enormous changes in the social and religious life of our country over the last century.” . . .

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the former bishop of Rochester, described the judgment as “absurd”. . . . “To say that this is a secular country is certainly wrong . . . However, what really worries me about this spate of judgments is that they leave no room for the conscience of believers of whatever kind. This will exclude Christians, Muslims and Orthodox Jews from whole swaths of public life, including adoption and fostering.”

Speaking personally, Canon Dr Chris Sugden, the executive secretary of Anglican Mainstream, said the judges were wrong to say religion was a matter of private individuals’ beliefs: The judges "are treating religion like Richard Dawkins does, as if Christian faith was on a parallel with Melanesian frog worship.” . . .

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Actually it did not say people of faith could not be foster parents. It said homophobic people of faith can not be foster parents. However, there seems to be no reason why a person who was a christian and not a bigot could not foster parent a child. It is a law against bigots not religion. If the good reverend is saying that religion and bigotry go hand in hand and cannot be separated, well, that says a lot more about him than the law.

Yes, in the US, we strive for foster parents who are not pediphiles or worse abusers than the home the children came from and often fail even there. We are a long way from any court ruling like this.

Are these those frogs people lick to get high ? Or is that some sort of urban legend? If Melanesain people are licking frogs and having hallucinations... well, at least they're having fun. Christians and muslims never seem to have much fun unless they have someone else to make totally miserable. Maybe they should try frog licking...

No, that is the Central American cane toad, Bufo marinus (the same species that is slowly taking over Australia). During the hippie era, there was a considerable industry where I live here in Costa Rica, catching those awful things, skinning them, and drying the skins, and then exporting them to the United States, where they were often included, shredded, in marijuana, to help folks get high. They are very common and prolific here, to the point of being a nuisance, and the trade in their skins was never a threat to their conservation status.

They defensively produce a mild neurotoxin in their skin glands that, at just the right dose, is a hallucinogen. But too much and you're dead meat. The margin of error is fairly small. That is why licking the toads is a rather hazardous business. I don't recommend it.

Yep, sure is. But nobody does it around here very much, even though the blighters are ubiquitous. Every year during the onset of the rains, when the toads are everywhere, some teenage kid tries it and ends up in the hospital - or morgue. There are much safer ways around here to get high that are almost as cheap. Marijuana comes to mind...